Video interview: Monsanto's history marred by scandal

RT America produced an interview show between Elizabeth Wahl and Abby Martin, discussing the scandalous history of the agro-giant Monsanto.

Abby Martin of RT America

Video screen capture

Elizabeth Wahl is a studio anchor and correspondent at RT's Washington, DC bureau.

In the video above, she interviews a fellow studio anchor and correspondent, Abby Martin on the subject of Monsanto, GMOs, food and health.

Before coming to RT, Abby was involved in the creation of multiple new media projects. She is a self-taught editor, videographer, writer, journalist and artist.

Abby graduated from SDSU with a B.A. in political science, where she was involved in community organizing for multiple causes.

In 2009, she founded her own citizen journalism media organization called Media Roots based in Oakland, CA. There, she editorially managed and produced hundreds of multimedia stories, including front line coverage of the Occupy Oakland crackdowns.

Aspartame, the controversial artificial sweetener, which is said to be dangerous to health. The sweetener was initially turned down by the FDA as tests showed that aspartame may be attributed to cancer, hair loss, depression, behavioral disturbances and even dementia. However, eventually the product was approved.

Bovine Growth Hormone - two Fox News reporters were tasked by their boss with investigating bovine growth hormone and its dangers. They did a very thorough investigation, and when ready to publish, Monsanto shut down their publication, and both reporters lost their jobs - see the video below:

DDT - an insecticide produced by Monsanto Corporation, which proved to be dangerous to the environment, and in 1972 it was banned for use in the U.S.

The two reporters then discuss generally the dangers of GMO foods and how the public needs labeling to give them an informed choice when purchasing their food. They talk about the fact that scientists in the U.S. have been stopped from testing GMOs, and that most dangerous results have been discovered by scientists overseas.

They talk about the more than 300,000 farmers who tried to sue Monsanto, but their case was thrown out of court.

With regard to labeling, Martin says that the public needs this to make an informed choice when buying food. With most supermarket items containing both corn and soy, this means that virtually everything in the supermarket contains GMOs.

Vermont tried to pass a bill enforcing the labeling of GMO products, but was threatened with a lawsuit by the very deep-pocketed corporation, and had to drop the idea.

California, however, may have more success on the labeling issue. On the evening of June 11, the California Secretary of State's office announced that the Right to Know initiative to label genetically engineered foods will be on the state's November 2012 ballot. According to polls, 91% of Californians back the labeling initiative.